Opportunity for African Writers! The Miles Morland Foundation invites entries for the Miles Morland Writing Scholarships 2018. The Miles Morland Writing Scholarships are the most prestigious end-of-the-year awards on the continent. The purpose of the Scholarships is to promote literature and good writing.

It can be difficult for writers, before they become established, to write while simultaneously earning a living. To help meet this need the MMF annually awards a small number of Morland Writing Scholarships, with the aim being to allow each Scholar the time to produce the first draft of a completed book. The Scholarships are open to anyone writing in the English language who was born in Africa, or both of whose parents were born in Africa.​

The Miles Morland Foundation’s main aim is to support entities in Africa which enable Africans to get their voices heard. It is particularly interested in supporting African writing and African literature.

Grant:

Scholars writing fiction will receive a grant of £18,000, paid monthly over the course of twelve months. At the discretion of the Foundation, Scholars writing non-fiction may receive a grant of up to £27,000, paid over a period of up to eighteen months to allow them an additional six months for research.​

An initiative of the Miles Morland Foundation, the awards offer a fiction scholarship of £18,000 to two, three or four writers over the course of twelve months, and a nonfiction scholarship of £27,000 to a single writer over the course of eighteen months. The funds are paid to allow them to take time off to write the book they have proposed.

Eligibility

Open to anyone writing in the English language who was born in Africa, or both of whose parents were born in Africa.​

There are no age restrictions

The Foundation welcomes both fiction and non-fiction proposals.

The Scholarships are meant for full length works of adult fiction or non-fiction. Poetry, plays, film scripts, children’s books, and short story collections do not qualify.

A candidate must submit an excerpt from a piece of work of between 2,000 – 5,000 words, written in English that has been published and offered for sale.

The proposal must be for a full length book of no fewer than 80,000 words.

The MMF does not accept proposals for collaborative writing or short story collections.

The proposal should be for a completely new work, not a work in progress, and must be in English.

It is not the purpose of the Scholarships to support academic or scientific research, or works of special interest such as religious or political writings. Submissions or proposals of this nature do not qualify.

Requirements

The only condition imposed on the Scholars during the year of their Scholarship is that they must write.

They will be asked to submit by email at least 10,000 new words every month until they have finished their book, or their Scholarship term has ended. If the first draft of the book is completed before the year is up, payments will continue while the Scholar edits and refines their work.

Scholars are also asked to donate to the MMF 20% of whatever they subsequently receive from the book they write during the period of their Scholarship. This includes revenues as a result of film rights, serialisations or other ancillary revenues arising from the book written during the Scholarship period. These funds will be used to support other promising writers. The 20% return obligation should be considered a debt of honour rather than a legally binding obligation.

Judging Criteria

Submissions, including non-fiction submissions, will be judged solely on literary merit.

Before you submit an entry ask yourself, or ask an objective friend, “does my entry show literary merit?” If the answer is “no” please do not make a submission.

Application

Submit the following:

A submission of between 2,000 to 5,000 words as a Word document of work that has been published and offered for sale. Please send proof of publication.

A description of between 400 – 1,000 words about the new book you intend to write.

A scan of an official document showing that you, or both of your parents, were born in Africa.

A brief bio of between 200 – 300 words.

Please tell them how you heard about the Morland Writing Scholarships. Do not submit a job application type CV or résumé.

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